Handheld Bitcoin Wallet

[Lefty]

Hey gang- just floating an idea here, because I don't have the technical means to implement it.

Back a couple of decades or so ago, my dad participated in a program where a company would pay you for mailing them your register receipts from the store. I'm not sure what they did with the receipts (marketing research of some sort, I'm assuming), but eventually, they went defunct. I was pretty young back then, but I seem to remember that my dad told me that the government shut them down because they couldn't tax the transactions, or something like that having to do with taxation.

So what's my point, you ask? Has anyone considered that the one weak point in this system is the Internet itself? With the way things are going now, I would not put it past the US government to shut down the Internet (Past talk of an Internet kill switch ring a bell with anyone?)  or somehow illegitimize/illegalize the process if btc REALLY took off.

To protect against this, has anyone considered taking the btc idea onto a handheld platform? I'm not saying that we need to go to this extreme -> http://www.behance.net/gallery/Digital-wallet/541305  (although that might be really cool, too!) but it might be useful to have some sort of hardware/software implementation where 2 people could link their BlackBerrys, IPhones, IPads......whatever....to each other and exchange btc in person?

Reminds me of the old sci-fi series TekWar where they had a digital wallet of sorts that did much the same thing, but hey.....it wouldn't be the first time that art imitated life.

Just a thought.

 

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[aahzmundus]

This would be cool, and with the new java client its more possible.  The issue is you would need to be connected to the network so as to avoid all the issues like double spending etc and to post that transaction to the chain ASAP.

There have been multiple posts about printing bitcoins... but to my knowledge there is no good way to take a bitcoin away from the network, trade it, and come back without opening up yourself to scams.

[Lefty]

I would agree that printing bitcoins is not a viable option because of the issue you previously mentioned, as well as the costs involved, general acceptance issues, standardization, validation, etc, etc, etc.

So that brings me back to the handheld platform. Admittedly, double spending and transaction posting are hurdles. So it doesn't look like the the bitcoin itself can be PERMANENTLY separated from some sort of network validation scheme and still preserve the transaction integrity. BUT- I see no reason why it can not be....

1) Separated from the network for a brief time. A handheld platform could be set up to process X number of transactions and/or can only be disconnected for X time period before it MUST be reconnected to the network to trade transaction processing info.

2) Set up to be compatible with running on another decentralized network IN ADDITION TO the Internet. Back in the pre-Internet days, emails were shuttled back and forth via modem over FIDOnet. The same decentralized communication structure could be set up, since FIDOnet is still in use today and there is a certain degree of crossover between the Internet and FIDOnet. You may scoff, but redundancy is a good thing.

[opticbit]

I doubt this is what they were doing with the receipts but it could be...

When I was at DefCon a few years ago there was a tree at the Alexis Park Hotel
Many receipts were posted on that tree.  I think there was a note on the tree worked out like this

Don't need your receipt- leave it here.

Need a receipt, grab one here. 
(people in need of a receipt usually worked for a company that would refund them for their receipts.  Its like money grows on trees)

[ryepdx]

2) Set up to be compatible with running on another decentralized network IN ADDITION TO the Internet. Back in the pre-Internet days, emails were shuttled back and forth via modem over FIDOnet. The same decentralized communication structure could be set up, since FIDOnet is still in use today and there is a certain degree of crossover between the Internet and FIDOnet. You may scoff, but redundancy is a good thing.

Actually, we don't scoff at all:
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7181.0

[Lefty]

Thanks for the info, ryepdx....this is HUGE, and is very necessary!

In the interests of making the btc platform as robust as possible, has anyone else considered how btc would be traded if the whole INTERNET were brought down a la the Egyptian government method? Not to put too fine a point on it, but should the providers (or the gub-mint) happen to hit the kill switch for all the data pipes, then freenet goes away too, yes? I'm thinking we should be looking at yet another "head for the hydra" that would make it that much more difficult for all the heads to be crushed underfoot by the ptb.

Like through some (all?) of the methods outlined at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-maintain-internet-access-even-if-your-government-turns-it?...though some (like ham radio) would obviously be less than suitable for our purposes...

[BitterTea]

I think wireless mesh networks would be the thing, if we were to temporarily or permanently lose access to internet infrastructure.